Oral Histories

Chinese Heritage

This collection consists of interviews focusing on the history and culture of the Chinese people in the Mississippi Delta. This Mississippi Humanities Council funded oral history project was completed in 2000.

Civil Rights

This collection consists of interviews focusing on the Civil Rights struggle of African Americans in the Mississippi Delta during the 1950s and 60s. This Mississippi Humanities Council funded oral history project was completed in 2001.

Delta Black Farmers

This collection consists of interviews focusing on black farmers in the Mississippi Delta.

Delta State University

This collection consists of interviews focusing on the history of Delta State University. This Mississippi Humanities Council funded oral history project was completed in 2001.

Delta Food

This collection consists of interviews focusing on local culinary related oral histories. The Deep South Regional Humanities Center recognizes that Foodways – the way we deal with food sources and its preparation, say a lot about individual regional cultures.

Early American Literature Class Project

This collection of oral histories was part of a project for Delta State University’s Early American Literature class. Each oral history participant focused on a specific interest on a variety of topics.

German Prisoners of War

The Mississippi Humanities Council funded an oral history project on German POWs that were in the Mississippi Delta during the period during the WWII years (1942-1945). There were several POW camps located in Mississippi. A major camp was at Camp McCain near Grenada. Several side camps operated from the main camp, including one in Merigold, MS.

Historical Neighborhoods

The objective of this project was to gain information and insight from Cleveland residents and homeowners who live in Cleveland’s historic district.

Italian Oral Histories

This collection consists of interviews focusing on the history and culture of the Italian people in the Mississippi Delta. This Mississippi Humanities Council funded oral history project was completed in 2001.

Jewish Oral Histories

This collection of Jewish Oral Histories was part of a Delta State University Advanced Research Writing ELR 702 class project entitled “Growing Up Jewish in the Delta.” The histories give insight what it is like from a Jewish prospective, to grow up in the Delta.

Other Oral Histories

The Delta State University Archives has over 200 oral history interviews covering a wide range of subjects concerning the history and culture of the Mississippi Delta. These interviews are not part of a specific project and are generally from the 70s, 80s, and early 90’s.

Patchwork Oral History Project

In late 1999, the Mississippi Humanities Council funded an oral history project that targeted individuals whose life stories would supplement the documentation of Mississippi history by the Mississippi Oral History Project.

Sharkey Heritage and Cultural Project

The Sharkey Heritage and Cultural Project, also known as the SHAC Project, is a non-profit organization whose primary mission is to record the oral, written and photographic history of Sharkey County as well as its “sister county,” Issaquena. The grant-funded project, “The Delta Means Change: Endangered Stories,” captured the history of the area as told by those who lived it. The project spanned several years, 2018 – 2021.

Sharkey and Issaquena Counties

This series of interviews dates to the mid 1970’s and focused on the Delta, its farming practices and labor situation during WWII, and the move from the use of animals to machinery. Also contained in the interview is the origins of Delta Council.

West Tallahatchie High School

Throughout the Spring 2010 semester, middle school students at West Tallahatchie High School participated in a living history project to explore the history and culture of their town. This project was sponsored by the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi. Their support made this project possible and will provide for future living history projects such as this to occur in the future. Click here to view the video. Each living history collected during the project is available for research purposes from the University Archives.

World War II

This collection of oral histories was a Delta State University Advanced Writing Class (ELR 702) that focused entirely on interviews from veterans of World War II and interviews from persons on the homefront.